ATHERTON WANTS OUT OF CONTRACT

Frustrated that management could not agree to his suggestions to get the musicians of the beleaguered San Diego Symphony performing again, symphony music director and conductor David Atherton has asked to be released from his contract.

Atherton’s action, which was made in a letter dated Sunday, came a week after he told a meeting of musicians in Los Angeles that he would take a leadership role in attempting to end the labor impasse that has all but killed the symphony.

On Monday, Atherton confirmed that he wanted out of his contract, adding that since the board of directors disbanded the orchestra Jan. 12, he has been virtually unemployed and has not been paid. In the letter to symphony association president Herbert J. Solomon, Atherton said that the board’s decision to disband made his position as music director “superfluous.”

Atherton wrote the letter after attempting to convince Solomon and symphony Executive Director Wesley O. Brustad of the importance of getting the orchestra playing again. The three met on Thursday and Friday last week, and Atherton had a further 90-minute phone talk with Solomon on Sunday. Specifically, he offered to drop his demands for changes in auditioning and firing procedures that musicians have objected to.

“I made various suggestions and proposals, but to everything I suggested, I was given the same answer: The negotiations are at an end. The orchestra has been disbanded,” Atherton said. “The reason they couldn’t go along with anything I suggested was lack of money.”

The symphony has $1.3 million in debts from operations.

San Diego Symphony musicians’ leader, bassist Gregory Berton, was not encouraged. “It seems like our stalemate is due to the insane intransigence of the board. It seems like Atherton made an attempt to remove himself as a barrier to a settlement and those actions were thwarted by the board,” he said.

Neither Solomon nor Brustad were available for comment on Monday morning.

In a meeting in Los Angeles on Jan. 20, attended by union officials, musicians and top management of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atherton said he would attempt to get the San Diego Symphony Orchestra Assn. to drop its demand for artistic concessions.

The meeting had been called so that Atherton could give his version of what was going on in San Diego, said Vince DiBari, vice president of Local 47 of the American Federation of Musicians. The tone of the meeting was “very, very constructive,” DiBari said.

Atherton conducted a series of concerts by the Philharmonic at the Music Center two weeks ago.

At the meeting the musicians queried Atherton for almost two hours about allegations that he is abusive toward San Diego players. “Good questions were asked. Good answers were given,” DiBari said.

The meeting was attended by Atherton, Los Angeles Philharmonic Executive Director Ernest Fleischmann, General Manager Robert Harth, orchestra manager Nancybell Coe, Moritz, Local 47 President Bernie Fleischer, DiBari and two other members of the orchestra committee. Los Angeles Philharmonic officials declined to discuss the meeting other than to acknowledge that it occurred.

In a related matter, 84 of the Philharmonic’s players signed a petition, which they submitted to management, that states that they would play under Atherton only “under protest” in view of his part in the labor crisis that has pushed the San Diego Symphony to the brink of bankruptcy. Philharmonic officials and musicians said it was the first time they can remember that the musicians have protested playing under a conductor by petition.

In his letter, Atherton wished Solomon “every success in your future efforts to provide concerts for our audiences . . . .”

Atherton had been music director of the San Diego orchestra for six years. His contract runs through 1989.